Carpet tack strip fabricating apparatus



Sept. 27, 1960 N. MAEX ETAL 2,953,788

CARPET TACK STRIP FABRICATING APPARATUS Filed March 10. 1958 I 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 .MKOLAU-S JUAEx, AurHE/e I. DAFFEBN,

INVENTORS.

m P Mm Sept. 27, 1960 2,953,788

CARPET TACK STRIP FABRICATING APPARATUS N. MAEX ETA].

4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 10, 1958 m I :l 5

ps2, INVENTORS;

Sept. 27, 1960 N. MAEX ETAL 2,953,788

CARPET TACK STRIP FABRICATING APPARATUS Filed March 10. 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 I I I Ayn/EA: .17 ,DAFFERAI, 176 194 INVENTORS.

Armmuqy.

Sept. 27, 1960 N. MAEX ET AL CARPET TACK STRIP FABRICATING APPARATUS Filed March 10. 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 145 1&2

INVENTORS. Mzaaaus .MAEX,

AUTHEFP FDAF'FEEN,

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Unite CARPET TACK STRIP FABRICATING APPARATUS Nikolaus Maex, 8916 Ellis Ave, and Author Dalfern, 3754 Tilden Ave., both of Los Angeles 34, Calif.

Filed Mar. 10, 1958, Ser. No. 720,163 3 Claims. (Cl. 1-92) quated means for fastening carpet inoperative relationship with the floors of rooms in residences and business establishments has been obviated and that there is presently utilized, in substitution therefor, a carpet fastener which generally includes an elongated base strip formed'from wood, plywood, compressed wood, or other material having a plurality of upwardly directed pins or prongs therein. The present invention resides in the provision of an apparatus whereby carpet fasteners of the immediately hereinabove described character may be cheaply and economically fabricated. a

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for fabricating carpet fasteners constituted by elongated strips having a plurality of upwardly directed prongs or pins therein which includes an elongated bed upon which'the blank strips are adapted-to be longitudinally translated and which further includes means for intermittently translating the blanks. Associated with the bed is wire driving means for driving wire into the blanks which incorporates 'a reciprocatable, one-way, overrunning clutch and a driver engageable with the overrunning clutch to cause the reciprocationof the same. After the wire has been driven into the strip blank by the conjoint action of the driver and overrunning clutch, shear means operating transversely of the bed serves to shear the wire driven into the strip or blank to a predetermined length to provide a plurality of upwardly and angularly directed pins or prongs on the upper surface of the blank which, when all the pins or prongs have been driven thereinto, constitutes a length of carpet tack strip.

By the provision of wire driving means of the aforementioned character in the apparatus of the invention, it is possible to eliminate the inadequate wire driving means utilized in prior art constructions, said prior art wire driving means being characterized by the incorporation therein of knurled driving wheels which are adapted to intermittently feed the length of wire into the blanks and which undesirably corrugate the sides of the wire as it is driven thereinto. Furthermore, the wire driving means of the invention imparts a sudden driving force to the wire being driven, thus insuring adequate penetration of the wire and the clinching of the lower extremity thereof, in a manner to be described in greater detail hereinbelow.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus of the aforementioned characterwherein there is incorporated wire retention means adapted to prevent reverse movementof the wire during retraction of the driver constituting a part of the wiredriving means so that the wire is restrained against movement and dis- States Patent "ice placement from operative relationship with the wire driving means.

Patented Sept. 27, 1960 A further object of the invention is the provision,in

an apparatus of the above mentioned character, ofan elongated bed having resilient back-up means associated therewith and engageable with the edge of a tack strip blank located on said bed whereby, when the wire driven a sharp point may be created upon the upper extremity of the wire.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification and the accom panying drawings which are for the purpose of illustration only and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the apparatus constructed in accordance with the teachings of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical, sectional view taken on the broken line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical, sectional view taken on the broken line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view of a portion of the apparatus of the invention;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view of the one-way overrunning clutch incorporated in the wire retention means of the apparatus;

Fig. 6 is a horizontal, sectional view taken on the broken line 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is an end elevational view of the apparatus taken in the direction of the arrow 7 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view showing a portion of the nail feeding and driving means incorporated in the apparatus of the invention;

Fig. 9 is a top plan view of a portion of the nail feeding and driving means;

Fig. 10 is a longitudinal, sectional view taken 'on the broken line 10-10 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a view showing the tack strip in completed form;

Fig. 12 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view showing the relationship of the shear means with the bed of the apparatus;

Fig. 13 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view taken from the broken line 13-13 of Fig. 12;

Fig. 14 is a view showing the initiation of the shear- Fig. 18 is a transverse, sectional view showing the initiation of. the shearing action; and

Fig. 19 is a transverse, sectional view taken on the broken line 19-19 of Fig. 15.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to Figs. 1-10 thereof, we show an apparatus 10 constructed in ed to automatically fabricate carpet tack strip of the character described hereinabove. The apparatus 10 generally includes an elongated bed 12, at one extremity of which, as indicated in the left-hand portion of Fig. I1,

is disposed a magazine 14 for the reception of a plurality of tack strip blanks 16. p

The bed 12 is divided into four stations, namely: atack strip blank feeding station 18-at the magazine 14; animprinting station 20 having imprinting means 22 located thereat to imprint the upper surface of the tack strip blank with the trademark and trade name of the manufacturer utilizing the apparatus 10; a pin driving, form ing and shearing station 24 at which the means adapted to accomplish the driving, forming and shearing of the pins is located and is indicated generally at 26; and a nail feeding and driving station 28 having nail feeding and driving means 30 located thereat. Thus, during the translation of the carpet tack strip blanks 16 along the bed 12, they are automatically subjected to a sequence of operations involving, initially, the feeding of the carpet strip blanks from the magazine 14, their subsequent imprinting by the imprinting means 22, the driving of the lengths of wire into the body of the blanks, and the shearing and forming of the pins therefrom and, uitirnately, the driving of fastening nails into the upper surface of the blank intermediate the pins whereby the completed tack strip 32 may be aifixed to a surface with which it is associated.

Prior to a detailed disclosure of the construction and mode of operation of the apparatus of the invention, reference is made to Fig. 11 of the drawings for the purpose of illustrating the carpet tack strip 32 which is partially shown in Fig. 11 and which includes a base 34 formed from compressed wood, plywood, or equivalent material and which has a plurality of pairs of carpet engaging pins or prongs 36 incorporated therein and angularly oriented toward the front edge 33 of the base 34.

Located between the spaced pairs of pins 36 are nails 40 adapted to be driven into a surface upon which the tack strip 32 is superimposed. Also formed in the upper surface of the base 34 is a plurality of depressions 42 which facilitate the insertion of additional nails in the upper surface of the base 34 if the use of additional fastening nails is indicated. While a particular type of strip 32 is illustrated in Fig. 11 and disclosed as being formed in the apparatus of the invention, it is, of course, obvious that strips having different pin arrangements and different configurations can be fabricated by the use of the apparatus of the invention.

The bed 12 of the apparatus 10 is supported upon a plurality of spaced legs 44 and at the strip blank feeding station is constituted by an elongated channel 46 which, as best shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, supports spaced bed members 48 defining an intermediate slot 50. The lowermost of the blanks 16 is superimposed upon said bed members 43 and is guided along the bed by engagement with the vertically oriented side walls of the channel 46. A chain 52 having blank engaging lugs 54 thereupon is adapted to be carried through the slot 50 between the spaced bed members 48, the spaced lugs 54 engaging the end of the lowermost tack strip blank 16 to cause it to be translated along the bed 12.

The chain 52 is continuous and is mounted at its opposite extremities upon sprockets 56 supported in operative association with the bed 12, an intermediate sprocket 58 being provided below the bed 12 and supported upon an elongated mounting arm 60. The chain 52 is movable intermittently, in a manner to be described in greater detail below, and such intermittent movement is of sufiicient duration to cause a tack strip blank 16 to be shifted along the bed 12 a distance equivalent to that between juxtaposed pairs of pins 36. Thus, the last blank of a series of blanks being advanced through the apparatus 10 along the bed 12 thereof serves to propel the preceding blanks intermittently through the apparatus. It will be noted that the magazine includes two vertical channel members 62 which engage the opposite extremities of the blanks 16 and serve to maintain them aligned with one another in order that they may be ac curately fed to the portion of the bed 12 disposed in operative relationship with the magazine 14.

As the blanks 16 are intermittently translated longitudinally of the bed 12 by the action of the carrier chain 52 and the carrier lugs 54 thereupon, they are moved into operative relationship with the imprinting means 22 which is of conventional character and includes a printing roll 66 having an inking roll 68 associated therewith. Thus, as the printing roll 66 engages the surface of the blank, it is caused to rotate by its impingement thereupon during intermittent movement of the blank in order that an appropriate legend such as a trademark or trade name, or both, may be imprinted upon the blank to designate the source of the goods.

The pin driving, forming and shearing means 26 is located at the station 24 for accomplishing the formation, driving and shearing of the pin 36 and includes, as best shown in Figs. 1-6 of the drawings, an angularly oriented frame 70 having an angularly oriented bed plate 72 supported thereupon. The bed plate 72 supports an angularly oriented housing 74 which includes a shear block 76 and a driver block '18.

Journaled for rotation in the frame 70 is a drive shaft 80, said drive shaft having its opposite extremities protruding beyond the frame 70 and having an eccentric 82 mounted thereupon intermediate said extremities. A flywheel 84 is mounted on the right-hand extremity of the drive shaft 80, as viewed in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and is driven by an electric motor 86 through a belt 88 which drives a sheave 90 which, in turn, drives a belt 92 engaged upon the periphery of said flywheel.

A connecting rod 94 is secured at its upper extremity to the eccentric 82 and is pivotally secured at 96, as best shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, to a reciprocating carriage 98 which is adapted to be moved from an upper, inoperative position to a lower, operative position for a purpose which will be described in greater detail below. The lower extremity of the connecting rod 94 is pivotally secured to a link 102 which, as best shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, is operatively connected to a shear driving linkage 104, for a purpose to be described in greater detail below.

A first mounting bracket 106 is secured to the carriage 98 and is movable thereby from a first, upper, inoperative position to a second, lower, operative position to cause vertical reciprocation of a pair of driver heads 108 mounted therein. The driver heads 108 are constituted, as best shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, by elongated, tubular bodies 110 having threaded exteriors 111 and bores 112 which permit the lengths of wire to be formed into pins 36 to pass therethrough. Of course, the bodies 110 of the driver heads 108 are located in openings 116 in the bracket 106 and associated nuts 118 engageable with the threaded exteriors thereof maintain said bodies in predetermined positions of adjustment with respect to the bracket 106.

Also mounted on the reciprocatable carriage 98 is another bracket constituting a second bracket 120, said second bracket supporting an elongated punch 121 which, as best shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, is provided with a bifurcated head 123 adapted to impinge upon the upper surface of the base 34 to form the depressions 42 therein.

The driver block 78 constituting a portion of the housing 74 is atfixed in operative relationship with the upper surface of the shear block 76 by means of bolts 122, or similar fasteners, and incorporates a pair of elongated bores 124 extending from the upper to the lower extremity of the driver block 78. Only one of the bores 124 is shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, the other bore 124 being displaced downwardly therefrom as best shown in the dashed line 124 of Fig. 3 of the drawings.

Mounted in each of the bores 124 is a tubular capsule 126 in which is located a one-way overrunning clutch 128 constituted by a plurality of superimposed clutch members 130, each of which includes a plurality of clutch balls 132 urged into engagement with the converging side walls of the shell 134 in which they are located by the upwardly projecting boss 136 on the shell therebelow. A compression spring 138 is positioned in the lower extremity of the capsule 126 and maintains the elements of the overrunning clutch 128 in operative relationship with one another.

A larger compression spring 140 is disposed below said lower extremity of said capsule and serves to maintain it in a first, inoperative position in the upper-extremity of the bore 124. It will be noted that the wire 114 extends downwardly through coincident openings in the shells 134 and between opposed surfaces of the clutch balls 132 and into the upper extremity of a wire guide 142 whose lower extremity is supported in the shear block 76 and whose upper extremity projects into the associated bore 124.

Mounted on a bracket 144 fastened to the frame 70 is a pair of wire retention means 146 which are housed within tubular bodies 148 and which are constituted by the same type of one-way, overrunning clutch as the oneway, overrunning clutch 128.

The shear block 76 constituting a part of the housing 74 is secured in operative relationship with the bed plate 72 by means of bolts 150 and is angularly oriented in the manner shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings to angularly orient the lengths of wire 114 fed thereinto through the wire guides 142. A pair of parallel bores 154 is formed in the shear'block' 76 for the reception of reciprocating shear rods 156 which, as best shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, are connected through the linkage 104 and the link 102 to the connecting rod 94.

The lower extremities of the wire guides 1-42 are beveled as at 158 to provide shearing surfaces adapted to co-operate with the correspondingly beveled surfaces 162 on the extremities of the shear rods 156, as best shown in Figs. 12 and 13 of the drawings.

An elongated passage 164 is provided in the shear block 76 and permits the tack strip blank 16 to be advanced through the shear block with its upper surface disposed in contiguity to the lower extremities of the wire guides 142 and the inner extremities of the shear rods 156, the blank 16 being supported in a horizontal orientation upon an auxiliary bed member 168.

Mounted in operative relationship with the left-hand side wall of the passage 164 is a back-up plate 170 biased in a right-hand direction by means of a compression spring 172 into contiguity with the left-hand edge of the blank 16 as it passes through the passage 164. The spring 172 is maintained in operative relationship with the back-up plate 170 by means of a bolt 174 and the backup plate can be displaced laterally to the left as viewed in Figs. 4 and 12 of the drawings, in a manner and for a purpose to be described in greater detail below.

After the blank has had the pins 36 inserted therein at the pin driving and forming station 26, it is shifted to the right as viewed in Fig. 1 of the drawings to expose it to the operation of the nail feeding and driving means 30 located at the nail feeding and driving station 28. The nail feeding and driving means 30, as best shown in Figs. 7 through of the drawings, includes a vertically movable nail receiving hopper 176 which is pivotally connected to a nail aligning plate 178 at its forward extremity, said plate being mounted upon frame members 180, as best shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings. The hopper 176 is provided with a cover 182 and is adapted to be reciprocated vertically by means of a connecting rod 184 connected at its lower extremity to a crank 186 which is, in turn, rotated by means of a gear reducer 190, as best shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings.

The gear reducer 190 is energized by a chain drive connection 192 between the drive shaft 80 and the gear reducer 190. Located in the hopper 176 is a bafiie plate 194 which serves to guide the nails 40 into a slot 196 in the bottom of the hopper which registers with a corresponding slot 198 in the nail aligning plate 178.

Mounted for rotation at the lower extremity of the slot 198 is a rotatable nail pick-01f plate 200 which is operatively connected by a chain drive connection 202 to the output of the drive shaft 80 and which is rotated to cause the nail pick-up notch 204 to engage a nail 40 at the lower extremity of the slot 198 and carry it to a funnel 206 juxtaposed to the periphery of the nail pick- Ofi plate 200. From the funnel 206 the nails are, fed

through a tube 208 to a point adjacent the upper surface of the blank 16 where they are delivered to a holding clip 207. When located in this position, they are sub jected to the blows of a reciprocating hammer 210 which, as best shown in'Fig. 8 of the drawings, is mounted in a guide 212 and has a lateral arm 214 extending through a slot 216 in the guide for engagement bya connecting rod 218 energized by a crank 220 which is, in turn, operatively connected to the output of the drive shaft 80 by means of a chain drive 222.

Prior to the energization of the apparatus 10, a stackof blanks 16 is loaded into the magazine 14 with the opposite extremities of the blanks supported in the vertically oriented channel members 62 of said magazine. Similarly, reels 224 of wire are disposed'upon an appropriate support 226 at the rear of the apparatus and threaded through tubular wire guide members 228 which terminate, as best shown in Figs. 3 and 7, immediately above the wire retention means 146.

The free extremities of the wires 114 are-threaded through the wire retention means 146, through the driver heads 108 and downwardly through the one-way overrunning clutch 128. From the one-way overrunning clutches the extremities of the wires 114 are passed through the wire guides 142 into juxtaposition to the inner extremities of the shearing rods 156.

At the same time, the hopper cover 182 is opened and the hopper 176 filled with nails 40. When thus prepared, the apparatus 10 is ready to be operated and the electric motor 86 is energized to cause the rotation of the drive shaft and thus the rotation of a crank 230 connected to a connecting rod 232, said connecting rod being connected at its lower extremity to a one-way overrunning clutch 234 which, through a chain drive 238, causes the rotation of one of the sprockets 56 and thus movement of the carrier chain 52 in its orbit. Of course, the clutch 234 is only intermittently operated by reciprocating of the connecting rod 232 and thus causes intermittent movement of the carrier chain 52 and the lugs 54'thereupon. As a lug 54 moves into engagement with the extremity of the lowermost of the stack of blanks 16, it urges'the blank 16 under the printing roll 66 where the desired data is printed upon the upper surface of the blank 16.

As the blank 16 is advanced from the printing station 20 to the pin driving and forming station 24, it enters the elongated passage 164 in the shear block 76. When located in the position shown in Figs. 4 and 12 of the drawings, lengths of wire 114 can be driven into the blank 16. This 'is accomplished by the fact that for each rotation of the drive shaft 80 the connecting rod 94 is reciprocated through one full cycle and causes movement of the reciprocatable carriage 98 from its upper, inoperative position to its lower, operative position. When so reciprocated, the carriage 98 carries the bracket 106 downwardly and upwardly, the downward movement, of course, urging the driver heads 108 downwardlyuntil the lower extremities thereof enter the upper extremities of the bores 124 causing them to impinge upon the associated clutches 128 and causing the clutch balls 132 to be driven into engagement with the periphery of the wires 114. 1 i

As the clutches 128 are urged downwardly by the continued downward movement of the driver heads .108,

lengths of wire equivalent to the stroke of the driver heads 108 are driven into the blank 16; The adjustment of the driver heads 108 in the bracket 106 determines the extent to which the wires 114 are driven into the blank 16. For instance, if the bolts 118 are loosened, the driver head bodies can be raised or lowered, the raising of the heads reducing the lengths of wire 114 driven into the blank 16 and the lowering of the heads 108 in creasing the lengths of wire 114 driven into the blank 16.

After the predetermined length of wire '114 has been driven into the blank 16, the shear rods 156 are urged downwardly to shear the predetermined length or; wire 7 114 from the lower extremities of the wires and form the pins 36.

The manner in which the shearing of the pins 36 from the lower extremities of the wires 114 is accomplished is graphically illustrated in Figs. 12 through 19 of the drawings. In Fig. 14, the wire 114 has already been driven into the blank 16 and the lower extremity thereof has been crimped over at 242 to insure that said lower extremity will be firmly secured against displacement of the resulting pin or prong 36 from the associated blank 16. After the lower extremity of the wire 114 is driven into the blank 16, the beveled edge of the shear rod 156 is moved across the correspondingly beveled extremity of the wire guide 142. it will also be noted that the shear rod 156, in addition to being beveled at the surface 162, is also provided with an additional bevel 244, as best illustrated in Fig. 12 of the drawings. Therefore, the wire depending from the wire guide 142 is initially contacted at a point immediately below that at which the bevel 158 on the lower extremity of the wire guide 142 begins.

As the shear rod 156 continues its advance, the depending length of wire is sheared in the manner shown in Figs. 15 and 17 through 19 of the drawings. It will be noted particularly from Figs. l719 that, as the wire 114 is contacted by the shear rod 156, a relatively jagged, thin edge 252 is left upon the wire 114 and it will further be noted that a burr 254 is formed upon the upper extremity of the pin 36 whereby a smooth retaining surface is presented to a carpet impaled upon said pin.

During the shearing operation, the pin 36 is displaced to the left, as best shown in Fig. 19 of the drawings, such displacement being permitted by the fact that the back-up plate 170 is urged to the left against the bias of the spring 172, the entire blank 16 moving with the pins 36 as they are sheared from their respective lengths of wire. When the shearing action has terminated and the shear rod 156 is moved to inoperative position, the blank 16 will once again return to its position in Which it is located directly below the lower extremities of the wire 114 and ready for a repeated insertion of the predetermined length of wire 114.

It will be noted from a consideration of Figs. 14 through 16 that the jagged lower extremities formed upon the wires 114 during the shearing operation facilitate the crimping accomplished at 242 when these jagged extremities are driven through the blank 16 and are crimped over by engagement with the upper surface of the auxiliary bed member 168.

After the driver heads 108 have driven the wires 114 into the blank 16, they are carried upwardly by return of the carriage 98 to its upper, inoperative position. It is during the upward movement of the driver heads 108 that the retention means 146 for the wires 114 serves its function of preventing upward displacement of the lower extremity of the wires 114 from operative relationship with the wire guides 142 and the associated shear rods 146. For instance, if the upward movement of the driver heads 108 should tend to move the wires 114 upwardly, the clutch balls 132, as best shown in Fig. of the drawings, will impinge upon the periphery of the wire 114 and hold it against upward displacement. Conversely, in the downward movement of the wire, the clutch balls 132 are released and the wire permitted to move freely through the retention means 146.

During the driving of the wire 114, the lower extremities of the driver heads 103 impinge upon the clutch 128 and force it downwardly against the bias of the compression spring 140 displacing the clutch balls 132 inwardly and gripping the wire 114 to carry it down with the clutch until it is driven into the blank 16.

After the pins 36 have been severed, the blank 16 is advanced to the nail feeding and driving station where a nail 40 is driven into the upper surface of the blank 16. This nail feeding and driving action is accomplished by feeding a nail 40 from the hopper 176, through the slots 196 and 198 to the nail pick-off 200. The nail pick-off 200 rotates to pick off one of the nails 40 and to drop it into the funnel 206 whence it is fed through the tube 208 to the nailing station 28. When located in the position shown in Fig. 8 of the drawings, the nail 40 can be driven by downward movement of the hammer 210 into the upper surface of the blank 16.

We thus provide by our invention an apparatus which will completely fabricate a carpet tack strip and which will advance the tack strip automatically through the imprinting, pin forming and driving, and nail driving and feeding operations.

Characteristic of the carpet tack strip produced by the apparatus of our invention are the firm atfixation of the pins in the body of the strip and the formation of sharp, barbed upper extremities upon the pins which will engage in, and effectively maintain, their operative relationship with the contiguous edge of a carpet impaled thereupon.

We claim:

1. In an apparatus for fabricating carpet tack strip, the combination of: a power source; an elongated bed for the reception of a tack strip blank; means on said bed connected to said power source for translating said blank intermittently thereof; a wire source associated with said bed; wire driving means over said bed connected to said power source for driving wire from said wire source into said blank, said wire driving means including reciprocatable gripping members and a reciprocatable driver for energizing the same to drive said wire into said blank; shear means connected to said power source and movable across said blank for severing the length of wire driven into said blank by said wire driving means; and nail feeding and driving means adjacent said wire driving means and operatively connected to said power source and intermittently operable to feed and drive strip fastening nails into said blank simultaneously with said wire driving means.

2. In an apparatus for fabricating a carpet tack strip having a plurality of longitudinally spaced pairs of carpet engaging pins, the combination of: a power source; an elongated bed for the reception of a carpet strip blank; means for translating said blank intermittently of said bed connected to said source; means connected to said source for feeding and driving a plurality of wires angularly into said blank; a plurality of shears connected to said source mounted for movement transversely of said bed 'to sever the segments of said wire previously driven into said blank; and nail feeding and driving means adjacent said wire driving means connected to said source and intermittently operable simultaneously with said wire driving and shear means to feed and drive fastening nails into said blank, said nail feeding and driving means including a reciprocatable hopper, a nail pick-off communicating with said hopper and a hammer for driving said said nails into said blank.

3. In a carpet tack strip fabricating mechanism for forming a plurality of spaced pairs of carpet engaging pins and driving them into a blank, the combination of: a source of power; a housing; blank advancing means operatively connected to said source of power; reciprocatable gripping means in said housing for advancing a plurality of wires disposed therein, said gripping means including a pair of reciprocatable, one-way overrunning clutches; a pair of drivers engageable with said pair of clutches to energize the same; a pair of one-way overrunning clutches disposed above said drivers to prevent reverse movement of said wires during return movement of said drivers; a plurality of shears connected to said source for severing predetermined lengths from said wires after said drivers drive said wires into said blank; nail hole punching means connected to said power source; nail feeding means connected to said power source for feeding nails to said strip; and a nail hammer connected to said power source, said nail hole punching means,

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Patten Oct. 4, 1892 Perkins Apr. 11, 1905 10 10 Perkins Apr. 22, 1924 Newhouse Mar 27, 1934 Smith Jan. 31, 1939 Buttner Oct. 31, 1939 Krah et a1. Apr. 25, 1950 Knowlton Feb. 5, 1952 Berger Feb. 26, 1952 Gondek Nov. 11, 1952 Morin Feb. 15, 1955 Kent July 3, 1956 

